Stars, Knights skate to tie

The Colony hockey team was looking for some quality hockey to start up its season again after an extended break.

The Knights, a Division I team, found just that Thursday through Saturday on the central Kenai Peninsula against Division II teams Kenai Central and Soldotna.

After dropping games to the Kardinals on Thursday and Friday, the Knights skated to a 1-1 tie with Soldotna on a Saturday senior night at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

The Stars are now 6-5-2, while the Knights are 8-5-1. Colony defeated SoHi 4-2 on Nov. 10.

“The teams down here have definitely improved from what we saw earlier in the season,” Colony head coach Chris Yaskus said. “We’re just coming off of a break trying to get the wheels going again.”

Soldotna had last played Dec. 15, while Colony had not played since Dec. 6 before the current three-game swing.

“We’ve been off for a month or so now,” Yaskus said. “Our last week and a half going into break was canceled due to weather. We’re basically four weeks out without any games or practices.”

The Stars honored seniors Jackson Purcell, Blake Bucho, Dawson Lockwood, Aiden Burcham, Silas Larsen, Liberty Miller, Ezekiel Miller and managers Jack Klein and Sunny Miller.

The night belonged to Purcell, though, as he made 43 saves to preserve the tie. Malachi Mukaabya stopped 23 for the Knights.

Colony outshot Soldotna 9-1 in the first period, but it was the Stars emerging with the lead when Jace Appelhans scored a power-play goal assisted by Boone Theiler.

“He was pretty incredible,” Soldotna head coach Anthony Zurfluh said of Purcell.

With 3:30 left in the second period, the Knights tied it when Carsen Lantto scored on an assist from Joseph Kirk.

After that, penalties piled up for both teams as each goalie took turns taking a starring role in preserving the tie.

Just 1:30 after Lantto’s strike, the Knights had a five-on-three power play that forced Purcell to make several sterling saves.

The Knights then had to kill off a five-minute major that started with 1:20 left in the second period.

Yaskus gave his team credit for digging deep on the penalty kill while playing a third game in three nights.

“It would have been nice not to be in the box to begin with, but our poor PK guys definitely came up big for us,” Yaskus said. “They made sure they got the job done when they needed to.”

So did Purcell and the Stars. With 1:51 left in the game, Colony went on another five-on-three but failed to capitalize despite great chances on Purcell’s doorstep.

“It really showed where we were falling apart on our penalty kill,” Zurfluh said of the chances Colony earned. “Nothing big, but things to work on in practice for next week. There were a lot of positives to the game.”

In overtime, Soldotna took three more penalties and Colony took another five-minute major, but neither team could capitalize.

Burcham had some great chances thwarted by Mukaabya, but he was not alone.

“Silas had a chance,” Zurfluh said. “Lockwood had a huge chance. Dang it. So Purcell had to be the hero, I guess.”

Zurfluh said the game was just another example of how much the seniors will be missed.

“It’s a huge, huge hole to lose our captains,” Zurfluh said. “They’re all great kids, and surely we wish them the best in the future in whatever they’re going to do in life.”

Saturday

Stars 1, Knights 1

Colony 0 1 0 0 —1

Soldotna 1 0 0 0 —1

First period — 1. Soldotna, Appelhans (Theiler), pp, 10:36. Penalties — Colony 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 2. Colony, Lantto (Kirk), 11:30. Penalties — Colony 3 for 9:00; Soldotna 2 for 4:00.

Third period — none. Penalties — Colony 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 3 for 6:00.

Overtime — none. Penalties — Colony 2 for 15:00; Soldona 3 for 6:00.

Shots on goal — Colony 9-13-12-9—44; Soldotna 1-11-7-3—23.

Goalies — Colony, Mukaabya (23 shots, 22 saves); Soldotna, Purcell (44 shots, 43 saves).